Evaporative cooling attachment for fans



March 19, 1946. c. c. MCCQMBS 2,396,741

EVAPORATIVE COOLING ATTACHMENT FOR FANS Filed Aug. 4, 1944 Patented Mar.19, 1946 seam rte

EVAPORATIVE GOOL FOR use-ATTACHMENT FANS.

Charles C. McCombs, Dallas (Terri Application August 4, 1944, 'SerialNo.548,037 7 Claims.

This invention relates to evaporative air cooling devices and it hasparticular reference to an air cooling attachment for table fans.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an economical andhighly effective attachment for fans for cooling the air circulated bythe latter which consists primarily in an open frame, self-supported,embracing the blades of the fan and a pair of trough-like receptacles,preferably of semi-circular cross section, one being disposed above andthe other below the fan and having communication one with the other bymeans of a plurality of wicks or strips of absorptive material. Theupper'of the said receptacles being'adapted to contain water for thesaturation of the wicks by virtue of capillary attraction and gravity,whereby the air, excited by the fan will be reduced in term peratureupon coming into contact with the water saturated wicks disposedforwardly of and on each side of the fan in the frame.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a novel form of mountingfor the Wicks or wick as the case may be, which consists of a pluralityof oblique slots in spaced relationship along the forward edge and eachend of the upper receptacle, the oblique relationship of the slots beingeifeotive to dispose the wicks in angular relation to the air stream,with associated means for holding the wicks in such position againstdisplacement therefrom by the force of air from the fan.

Still another object of the invention is to pro vide a wick retainingmeans consisting of. a metallic strip or wire extending athwart the wickassembly having spaced slots or bends therein which may be disposedradially or in a single plane for maintaining oblique relationship ofthe efiective surfaces of the wicks, to the air stream, therebyproviding for control of the latter.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a third but smallerreceptacle, pivotally suspended from the upper part of the frame at itsrear and into which a series of wicks or at the lower bends of a singlewick dependent to overlie the area immediately above the fan motor, theupper ends or bends of the wicks or wick being arranged to lie withinoblique slots along the rear edge of the upper receptacle, the entirearrangement bein intended to almost enclose the fan with water saturatedsurfaces.

With the foregoing objects as paramount, the

invention has further reference to certain features of accomplishmentwhich will become apparent as the description proceeds, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing wherein Figure l is aperspective view of an air cooling device constructedr-according'to thepresent invention. V

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view.

Figure 3 is a-fragmentary detail View of one of the wick retainingdevices.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail view in perspective of the uppermostwater receptacle, showing the manner in which the wicks enter and aresecured in the receptacle, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail view, reduced in size, showing themanner in which the wicks may be disposed to radially direct the flow ofair from the fan. I Continuing witha more detailed description of thedrawing, reference numeral llldenotes a frame fabricated preferably fromwire and which may be of any suitable or desirable design. This frameconsists 'of a front portion -ll, which depends below the frame properto define a transverse supporting member H2. The upper end-of the member|I'is bent 'outwardly,parallel with the member l2 at the bottom and themember II is in correspondingrela ionship with a relatively parallelmember i3 extending along the lower "edgeof'the frame proper. Wires I4interconnect the corners of the members 2! and I 3, the armounting for ascreen grill respectively. The rear portion of the frame, com parable tothe front portion made up of the wire designatedby numerals H and I2,consistsof wire l9 which extends from the top to the bottom and belowthe frame proper and instead of a supportingl member at the bottomextending entirely across from one side to the other side of the frame,this rear supporting arrangement is divided into two, axially alignedmembers 20, comparable to the transverse portion E2 of the foremost wirel-l. While this detail is not fully shown in the draw- The members. IIand 19 :are So shaped as to d ne relatively parallel members 23 atthe-top and bottom of the frame at each end thereof and which afford asupporting means for the upper receptacle 124 and the lower receptacle25, which will be described presently.

- The receptacles 24-and Ziiare substantially the same intransversesectiomexcept that the upper receptacle 24 isdeeper andtherefore "of greater capacity than the lower receptacle 25. Moreover,the receptacle 24 has about its edges a multiplicity of slots a whichare in oblique relation to the longitudinal axis of the receptacle. Theobject of these oblique slots is to first receive and to dispose thewicks 26 in an angular plane with respect to the air stream passingtherebetween.

Concerning the wick arrangement 26, it is preferred that one long stripbe employed, which is woven or otherwise prepared from a suitableabsorptive material. This strip is then threaded in a zigzagged fashioninto the slots a and downward through a retaining wire 21, the insideedges of the thence downward under projections 28 in said re-i ceptacle(Figure 2) thence upward throughan adjacent slot a and under aprojection 29 in the upper receptacle 24 and so on around the front andsides of the frame. The wick arrangement provided for the rear of theframe and above the fan motor 30 is identically the same as thatdescribed except that the wick, which bears the same reference character26, depends into an auxiliary reservoir 2|, the latter being pivotablysuspended from the upper rear part of the frame disposed alon lowermostreceptacle 25,;

v the scope by means of wire suspensions 32. This Wick arrangementoverlies that portion at the rear of the frame which is not occupied bythe fan motor and is advantageous in providing for further moisteningthe air influenced by the fan to move through the cooling device. Thesame reference characters are used to denote the wick holding elementsin the auxiliary reservoir 2! as were used to indicate theircounterparts in the receptacle 25, i. e., the retaining wires 21 and thepins 28. a A

As stated previously the circular form of the receptacles 24 and 25,combined with the oblique relationship of the slots a in the upperreceptacle provide for the angular positioning of the wicks 26. However,in order that the force of air emerging from the fan 22 will not beeffective to flatten the wicks, wire retainers, which bear the samereference character 21 as those in the lower receptacle, are provided inacross the front ofltheframe and provided along the side. These wireretainers are shaped substantially as shown in Figure 3, there beingprovided relatively spaced U-shaped bends along the lengths thereof, toreceive and hold the wicks 25. In Figure 5 is example of retainers whichis the same in that of Figure 3 except that the U-shaped bends aredisposed at a variety of angles in relation to the air stream to directthe latter; in a radial fashion as it emerges from the cooling device.

Referring again to the receptacles and 25, it will be noted that thelower receptacle as well as the auxiliary receptacle 3| has a drain 33.The receptacles 24 and 25 each have relatively spaced and downwardlycurved lips 34 in each end which conformably engage'the supporting wires23 at each end of the upper part of the frame. In this manneiythereceptacles are held in position in the frame for convenient removal forcleanin and for other purposes.

When the wicks or wick has been properly disposed so that it will dipintoithe upper receptacle and dependinto the lower receptacle 25 in themanner shown and described, as well as being similarly disposed inrelation to the auxiliaryreceptacle 3|, and with the assurance that thewick assembly is sufllciently taut, theupper receptacle .24 is filled tothe bottom of the slots a with water. By capillary action, thewatersaturating spaced relationship may also be thereof exposed to shownanother the depending portions of the wick will rise therein and willmove downward along the wick towards the lower receptacle 25 and uponcomplete saturation and under certain conditions, a certain amount ofwater will be conveyed by the wicks into the lower receptacle 25. Ofcourse, such evaporation that takes place as the water moves downwardthrough the wicks will be effective to cool the air passing between thewicks.

In removing the fan from the cooling device, it is necessary only todrain the auxiliary receptacle 3| and raise the same out of the way,after which the fan and cooling device may be operated, since there isotherwise no connection between the two.

i Manifestly, the construction as shown and described is capable ofsomemodification and such modification as may be construed to fall withinand meaning of the appended claims is also considered to be within thespirit and intent of the invention What is claimed is:

1. An air cooling device for an electric fan including an open, grilledand self supporting frame in which said fan is adapted to operate, anupper water containing tank removably suspended inthe' top of saidframe, having inclined side and end walls, the latter being providedwith relatively spaced, oblique slots throughout their length spacedpins extending inwardly from the walls of said tank below said slots, asecond water receiving tank'mounted in the bottom of said frame pinsalso in said latter tank, a continuous strip of water absorbent materialextending from one to the other of said tanks, lying within said obliqueslots and extending under the pins of each tank whereby the watersaturated portions the discharge of said fan will be constrained to liein parallelism and in oblique relation to said fan discharge andhorizontally disposed means for holding the leads of said strip in saidlatter relationship.

.2. An evaporative air cooling device for a fan including an open frameembracing the front and sides of said fan, a water retaining receptaclesuspended in the top of said frame having obliquely slotted inclinedside and end walls, a water receiving receptacle in the bottom of saidframerelatively spaced pins along the walls and ends of saidreceptacles, a continuous strip of water absorbent material having aplurality of turns held in said receptacles by said pins and extendingfrom one to the other thereof in parallel leads, the said strip lying inthe slots of said first receptacle, to hold said leads in obliquerelation to the passage of air excited by said fan. 3. An evaporatlveair cooling device for 'a'fan including spaced apart water receptaclesbetween which said fan operates, each having inclined side and endwalls, the upper having spaced, oblique slots in its side and end wallspins extending inwardly from the side and end walls of said receptacles,a zigzagstrip of water absorbent material extending from one to theother ofsaid receptacles lying in said oblique slots to hold the leadsthereof at relative angles and in parallelism, means in'said receptaclesunder which the turns of said strip engage to hold them therein, toeffect transfer of water from the upper to the lower of said receptaclesby way of said strip and hori- ZontaLyertically spaced means for holdingsaid leads collectively in oblique relation to the airstream produced bysaid fan.

4. An air cooling attachment for fans including an open flame supportingan upper and a lower receptacle, means for transferring water from theupper to the lower receptacle by capillarity and gravity, said meanscomprising a strip of water absorbent material extending from one to theother of said receptacles in a zig-zag manner, the upper extremities ofthe leads thereof overreaching the edges of the sides and ends of theupper receptacle, the lower extremities of said leads depending intosaid lower receptacle, pins protruding inwardly from the walls of saidreceptacles for holding the turns of said strip and means intermediatethe turns of said strip for maintaining relative parallelism andobliquity of the leads of said strip in relation to the sides and endsof said frame.

5. An air cooling attachment for electric fans including an open frame,an upper receptacle and a lower receptacle mounted in said frame, theupper of said receptacles having inclined side and end walls providedwith spaced, oblique slots, a strip of water absorbent material having aplurality of abrupt turns in each of said receptacles to extend from oneto the other thereof in relatively parallel leads, to transfer waterfrom the upper to the lower receptacle, said leads 3ying in and held bysaid slots in oblique relation to the sides and ends of said frame, anda third receptacle pivotally suspended from said frame at a point abovethe midsection thereof and adapted to receive the lower turns of a waterabsorbent strip whose leads extend between said third receptacle andsaid upper receptacle.

CHARLES C. MCCQMBS.

